After The State Of Play, I’m Finally Convinced Borderlands 4 Will Make Loot Exciting Again

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Borderlands 4 is coming quickly and a recent State of Play event showcased new features of the game, including plenty of gameplay footage to further build the excitement and anticipation for eager fans. As the newest in a series that defined the genre of looter-shooter, it is no surprise to see that loot collecting has become a hot topic for both devs and players alike. Though the official launch of the game is still a long way off, the footage and promises shown give hope that developers are addressing the issues some players had with Borderlands 3‘s loot system.

In a rare move, Gearbox Software recently announced that the Borderlands 4 release date has been moved up to September 12, 2025, news that happened just one day before the PlayStation State of Play event on April 30, which was dedicated entirely to the game. Between the footage shown in the deep-dive gameplay trailer and information shared on social media and the PlayStation Blog, Borderlands 4 sounds like it could be even better than originally expected. Particularly if developers really have taken player feedback and made the looter portion of this looter-shooter even more legendary.

Borderlands 4 Promises To Fix The Legendary Drop Rate

Legendary Weapons Are Meant To Be Truly Special And Rare

Naturally, everyone wants the biggest and best when it comes to finding weapons and gear in games like Borderlands, but when the legendary-quality weapons seem to drop at every turn, it takes away from much of the excitement and makes all other loot seem useless. Sadly, that is exactly what was happening in Borderlands 3, even early in the game. I found myself barely giving a glance to any item that wasn’t Legendary, because there was no point. Drop rates were lower for Legendary than for other types, but not by much.

Borderlands 4 two vault hunters standing back to back

All Four New Borderlands 4 Vault Hunters Officially Revealed, Including Their Names, Backgrounds, & Powers

All four of the new Vault Hunters coming to Borderlands 4 have been officially revealed, with their names and basic skillset detailed in brief bios.

I know I wasn’t alone in this feeling, as many players took to the forums to lament the way that legendary items didn’t feel very special anymore. Thankfully, the Borderlands 4 team is promising to rectify this by making legendary gear less commonly found through further lowering the drop rates. If truly changed, this alone will go a long way to fixing the loot system for the series, and hopefully give me a reason to look at other weapons, rather than just relying on my ever-growing stockpile of anything that glows orange.

Three New Manufacturers Add Even Greater Specialization

Order, Ripper, And Daedalus Bring The Total To Eight

There have already been several weapon manufacturers in Pandora, which play a big role in the Borderlands series. So much so that many fans of the games have memorized what each type specializes in, can easily recognize each, and have picked their favorites. Now, Borderlands 4 is shaking things up, as three new companies are joining the fray.

Daedalus, Order, and Ripper give additional options for players to find guns that perfectly fit their style of play by offering unique specializations that work towards letting all players enjoy shooting things up their own way.

Manufacturer	Specialty
Daedalus (New)	Easy-to-use and incorporates multiple ammo types.
Jakobs	Fire bullets as fast as you can shoot with ricochets on critical hits.
Maliwan	Specialize in elemental damage to burn, freeze, and shock.
Order (New)	Focus on precision with high-powered bursts.
Ripper (New)	Charge up to go fully automatic.
Tediore	Guns are reloaded by tossing them as grenades.
Torgue	Heavy-duty explosive rounds that can switch to sticky projectiles.
Vladof	High rate of fire and huge magazines.

Not everyone will be thrilled with these companies, but that isn’t the point. For players who do appreciate having a gun that is easier to use or that requires greater precision and focus, this will give more opportunities. However, this change could also prove to help improve the experience for everyone collecting the ample piles of loot in Borderlands 4. Simply by having three more manufacturers to choose from, the loot that drops will automatically have greater variety from having more options available. This means that finding that ideal legendary Maliwan will be harder, and thereby more rewarding when obtained.

Licensed Parts Could Be A Great Borderlands Remix

Parts From Multiple Manufacturers In One Weapon

Almost as if the devs should be saying “but wait, there’s more”, they didn’t stop at changing the drop rates and providing more manufacturers. A new Licensed Parts system is added to the game that will help to make every weapon have the ability to be something special, and give even more variety to the experience. This sounds as though it will be part of the RNG, and ultimately will allow weapons to take abilities and specialties from more than one manufacturer and spawn on a single weapon.

As shown in the image shared above, an example of this could be a Vladof rifle with a Torgue mag, Hyperion attachment, and a Maliwan switch. While it would be incredible if players could use this as a way to customize their own guns, that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Even if it is simply something that happens on spawn, it mixes up the framework and will give more excitement upon finding a powerful combination.

Borderlands 4 Weapon Enhancement Modifications

Even if players cannot combine manufacturers to create their own guns, we will still have more options for customizing our builds. New gear slots are being added, including the Ordnance, Enhancements, and Repkits. Ordnance will be a shared slot for Grenades and Heavy Weapons. Enhancements replace the Artifact slot of Borderlands 3 days, and Repkits can give temporary buffs or healing to players.

Replaying Boss Battles Balances The Loot Farming Problem

Replay Full Missions Or Just Focus On The Boss Battles

All the above changes already have me cautiously optimistic that we will have a much more exciting and rewarding experience finding loot in Borderlands 4, but could also potentially go too far and make it too difficult to find the perfect gun. That is where the last piece of news comes in, as the developers have announced an innovative way for vault hunters to grind for coveted gear on the planet Kairos. Using Moxxi’s Big Encore Machine, players can replay just the boss battles to find the good guns, without having to run through an entire mission again.

Generally speaking, boss fights are not only the best way to test out new skills, gear, and abilities, but also offer the greatest chance at finding the most legendary and powerful guns, if you can manage to win the battle. Though there can be some fun in replaying missions, it is also something that can get extremely tedious quickly, particularly when grinding. Jumping straight to the boss fight over and over with Moxxi’s help could balance out any lingering issues that may have come up by making it harder to get the best loot, and ultimately make Borderlands 4 as fun as I know it can be.